Biography

• Engebret Soot was born in Aurskog
  Aurskog-Høland
  Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen.- Name :...
  
   in 1786 and died in Otteid in 1859
• In 1824 he built works from Fredrikshald
  Fredrikshald
  Fredrikshald may refer to:* Fredrikshald Bay, Nunavut, Canada* Fredrikshald, Norway, former name of the town of Halden...
  
   to enable log transport from Stora Lee in Sweden
  Sweden
  Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
  
   into the Fredrikshald watershed
  Drainage basin
  A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
  
  .
• Soot built Norway's first canal in Østre Otteid in the years 1825-1827. The new log floating channel of 775 meter enabled the transport of logs to Halden
  Halden
  is a both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The seat of the municipality, Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, the southernmost border crossing between Norway and Sweden.-History:...
  
  .
• In 1849 he opened Soot Canal
  Soot Canal
  The Soot Canal, constructed in 1849, has Norway's oldest sluice gates. It was the work of Engebret Soot . It was built to allow timber to be transported to the Halden sawmills. The canal was 1.5 km long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake Skjervangen at 185 m above sea level up to Lake...
  
  , Norway's first canal with locks. It was built to allow timber to be transported (floated) to the Halden
  Halden
  is a both a town and a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The seat of the municipality, Halden is a border town located at the Tista river delta on the Iddefjord, the southernmost border crossing between Norway and Sweden.-History:...
  
   sawmills. The canal was 1.5 km long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake Skjervangen
  Skjervangen
  Skjervangen is a lake in the municipality of Eidskog in Hedmark county, Norway....
  
   at 185 m above sea level up to Lake Mortsjølungen at 201 m above sea level.
• This was followed by the Halden Canal
  Halden Canal
  The Halden Canal near Halden, Norway begun construction in 1852. The canal allows boats to make a journey parallel to the Swedish border of 75 km from Tistedal to Skulerud. Engebret Soot was responsible for this canal, as well as the earlier Soot Canal.-Locks:Four sets of locks control the water...
  
  for boats. In 1858 414 ships with a total of 950 passengers passed through the locks.

External links

• Canal Museum at Ørje (Norwegian)